If at First You Don't Succeed
by Dreams of Fantasia
Summary: I don't know how or why I died and I don't particularly want to. My main objective originally was getting through the plot without dying, now it's getting through while dying as few times as possible. This game is one I can't just put down or pause, no matter how much I may wish I could. Well, you know what they say 'if you don't succeed, retry, try again.' Reincarnated!Corrin
1. Chapter 1

I died. I don't know how I died or why I died but I did. I died and was reincarnated into the body of the main character from a game I used to play.

At this point you probably think I'm crazy and maybe I am but I woke up today with fuzzy memories of a life that was not my own. I don't know why I remember my previous life, for all I know this is a normal thing. But that's probably just wishful thinking. Anyways, I'm in this body now, with these memories, that's all I know for sure.

I can't tell anyone, they'll just think I've gone nuts or something. Holding all my feelings in wouldn't be all that smart either but, once again, telling others is a no-go. So the best option is to just put these memories in the back of my mind and continue on with my life. That would be the smartest course of action but I can't just ignore all these new memories; because from what they tell me my future isn't going to be the best.

So I'll try to change things, one step at a time. First off, my "new" name needs to go. It seems like a minor detail but it will help establish 'me'. I've read enough reincarnation fics, I know how this stuff usually goes. The protag tries to stick to the script but fails and begins to question who they really are. I'm stopping that right now, besides, my name in this life is stupid. Who in their right mind would name their child 'Corrin' anyways?


	2. My Future Best Friend

A.N.: Thanks to kuroneki for favoriting (though that's probably not a real word) and Maxis the Mercenary, Rotciv557, and kuroneki for following.

I forgot to do a disclaimer on the first chapter so here it is: I do not own Fire Emblem Fates, if I did the plot would be very different. But I don't and it's not, which is why I'm writing this.

Now then, onto the story!

* * *

Ugh, giving myself a new name is _hard_ , there's so many names out there and I don't know which one to choose, so I'll put that off until later.

Okay, new step 1, find out where I am in the plot. I seem pretty young, so I think I'm still just a kid but then again Elise is supposed to be like 15 so it would be best to check. Actually, I probably should've tried to learn this in the first place. Well, I got around to it so it's fine, yeah?

I look around, I was in a room colored red, green, and gold. The walls are made of grey bricks and when I look out the window, which had iron bars separating the window panes, I see bleak and barren land going on seemingly forever. Welp, I'm definitely in Nohr. So I'm at least 4 or so. There's one other thing I need to know.

I sneak out of my room, into the hallway, and search until I walk in a balcony that overlooks the main hall and find what I was looking for. I grab one of my shoes and chucks it at a tiny head of blue silver hair.

"Gh! What the?" I waved cheerfully at the young boy who waved back, confused.

He doesn't seem to recognize me, have we not met yet? If that's so, I may have accidentally messed up our first encounter.

"Silas, what are you looking at?" A man that looks similar to Silas, I assume he's his father, looks up to the balcony I'm on and calls out to me.

"Young Prince Corrin, it's wonderful to see you again."

"You as well, Sir." Because apparently we've met before.

"There is no need for such formalities, please just call me Alexander."

"Okay, Sir Alexander. Who's that with you?"

The man, Alexander, steps to the side to show Silas who tries to hide behind his father but fails. "This is my son Silas," He turns to Silas and pushes him somewhat roughly towards me, "why don't you go and play together while I go to the meeting?"

"Of course, Father."

Since I had no clue how to get down from the balcony otherwise, I simply jumped down. I grab Silas's arm and run off yelling behind me, "'kay, thanks, bye!"

* * *

I can only look around confused as I'm dragged through the castle. I was told the second youngest Nohrian prince was shy and quiet, obviously those people was wrong. This person was just really _weird_.

We went into a room and the prince flops on the bed. I stand there, awkwardly but the prince looks at me, upset. Did I do something wrong? Did I upset him? What do I do, Father will be so mad!

"Sit."

"Eh?" What?

"Sit down ya' dolt. Or do you wanna stand the entire time?" He glares at me and I freeze.

"O-okay," I sit down on the ground and look down. "Um Prince-Sir." I quickly correct myself.

The Prince laughs. "Aw, how cute."

"I'm not cute!" My head shoots up as I blurt out my feelings. "Um- I mean-" I look back at the ground.

"Stop." The Prince looks upset and then suddenly smiles. "There's no need to be so uptight. At least not when it's just you and me here." He looks towards the door for a second and mutters, "At least not when it _seems_ to be."

"What?" Does that mean?

The Prince shrugs, "Oh, nothing in particular. Anyways, talk normally, it's weird when people my age talk to me formally."

"But you're a Prince, I'm just a Lord's third son."

"I guess so but I just wanna be your friend."

"F-friend!" The Prince, friends, with me?! "You can have much better friends then me!"

"Not really, I've been stuck here my entire life. I've never even talked to people my age that aren't servants or my siblings. But that's not why, you're funny."

"Funny?"

"Yeah, so," I look up hesitantly and are shocked by what I see. Then afternoon sun filters through the window, surrounding the prince in a golden aura. I understood then, 'This guy...' "let's be friends, Silas."

'...Is someone I want to stand by.'


	3. A Short Overview of Where We Are Now

A.N: Thank you, L00k, Kamen Rider Rogue, AlphaConvoy, mynameisjoseceja, and SolidShinji104 for favoriting and following!

And in response to Anonymous's review, if you're retrying I seriously hope you're trying not to botch it unless you really hate a specific character.

* * *

I talked and played with Silas until his father came and picked him up. The future Cavalier seemed to have warmed up to me, so no worries on the friendship end, thankfully. I was never much of a social butterfly in my past life, living the entirety of this life, that I remember, secluded from the world doesn't really help. Thankfully, I must have gotten some of the original Corrin's Gary Stu abilities.

Oh! Also, I learned some things from talking with Silas. I now know that I'm seven years old currently. As Elise is said to be around 14-16 years old during the main story and is about 4 or so years younger than me I have at least ten years before the war unofficially and eleven before the main story officially starts. Now that that's settled I have to find out who else is here, I would be best to form some social links, or rank up my supports, or whatever, early.

I try to compile my memories from both lives on those I know. I have four siblings, two older, two younger. Currently I live in castle Krakenburg with my younger siblings, my older ones live in their own castles; though they visit whenever they have time. We all get together about every two months, but, as time goes on, their going to be visiting less and less as a group though. Each likes to do different things when they visit, of course. My elder brother, Xander, teaches me what I need to know as a noble. He's rather enigmatic so I don't actually know what he likes to do. My elder sister, Camilla, likes to coddle me -inwaysthatwouldbereallyinappropriateifwewerenotrelated- and take me to the wyvern stables, which is more like a range than a stable but is still _totally awesome_. My younger brother, Leo, is the living definition of a nerd and likes to sit with me in the library and read up on magic. My youngest sister, Elise, likes to run around the castle, play games, and sit in my room and just talk. I haven't met Jakob or Felicia yet, nor have I run into Lilith. Owain, Severa, and Inigo have already become my siblings' retainers while Niles hasn't met Leo yet. Along with that, neither me nor any of my younger siblings have any retainers so far.

There is one thing that I do need to worry about though, training. I have yet to receive any training in terms of fighting but I will soon. In a few days Xander will come to the castle and I will have to choose a weapon, this will be my main weapon from then on. I know Corrin is supposed to be a swords user but I really want to use tomes. Nohrian nobles can use tomes too I believe but I don't want to commit to a route so early. What to do, what to do. Ah well, I still have a few days to think about it.

* * *

Of course Xander decided he should come early. Of frippin' course!

I guess it doesn't really matter, I probably wouldn't have come up with anything if he did arrive on time anyways, but _still._

Anyways, I am currently in a large medieval training facility. I guess this is what they had before gyms were invented. Anyways, Xander is standing before me, with an extensive layout of weapons between us. If I had to describe Xander in one word would be 'tall'. I mean seriously, this guy is a freaking giant! I get in the games it was shown that the blonde was significantly bigger than any of the other royal siblings but JEEZ! He has to be like 5'10"! *AHEM* Anyways, I have to choose a weapon now. What to do what to do...

* * *

A/N: What to do indeed, what do you wonderful readers think? I will be putting up a poll and if you don't have an account (since I'm pretty sure that's how polls work on this thing) please put your vote in the comment section!

So, about ages. From what I've looked at, none of the Fire Emblem Fates cast have defined ages, just ranging from loli to living fossil in terms of age. So I was thinking of the following ages for each of the royal siblings at this point in the story. From youngest to oldest:

Elise: 3 and a half or so

Sakura: A little older than 4

Takumi: 5

Leo: 5 and a half

Corrin: 7

Azura: 9

Hinoka: 13

Camilla: 17

Ryoma: 18

Xander: 18 and a half


	4. Brothers and Questions

A.N.:No one voted on the poll, I guess I should've waited until the story got more popular, sorry. Anyways, on with the story!

* * *

"I want to learn everything." I state resolutely.

"Corrin, that's impossible." Xander says flatly.

'That was quick.'

"How come?"

"It takes a lifetime to master a single style for a single weapon, little prince, you can't do them all." 'But I wanna' is something I refrain from saying.

"But I can learn the basics for all of them, can't I? It's not like there's a shortage of people who can teach me (since I don't think anyone would refuse a 'suggestion' from Nohrian royalty) and it's..." I trail off and look away. 'Come on, take the bait.'

The blonde got on his knees. "Little prince, what's wrong?"

I shake my head. "'s nothin'."

"It's not nothing, now tell me."

"I want to learn everything because... I want to do something ya' know and I want ta be helpful ya' know and I wanna do something here when you guys are gone. You're all so cool and I just sit here and- and-" I start to cry.

"No... no, no, Corrin." The teenager awkwardly brought me into his arms. "You're plenty helpful as you are."

"In what?"

"In being here, smiling." I look up at him, rubbing my face. "All of us count on you to be happy and pure, even when we have to do bad things. If I had the choice I would rather have you not be involved in fighting at all. You're our little ray of sunshine, our little prince."

"...You're really sappy."

Xander laughs. "That's true, I suppose." He gets up and places me on the floor. "I'll try seeing if we can get those basic lessons for you. Then, we can see what you're best at and choose from there."

"Okay." I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up. "Now let's go get some lunch, you didn't have any, right?"

"I didn't." Thus, Xander and I walked hand in hand to the dining room.

It's on the other side of the fort-palace-mansion so it gave me some time to think. I was only planning on guilt tripping Xander into arranging for the lessons, the rest of _that_ just came out of nowhere. Those feelings _they weren't mine_ I try not to think about what that implies and instead look around trying to think about anything else.

'Wait... wasn't that pot the one we passed a minute ago? How is it still right behind us?' I pretend not to notice while looking out of the corner of my eye. 'Yeah, it definitely just moved.' I see some maids go past the pot and giggle a bit. 'So it's not an intruder meaning...' I hatch a plan as Xander leads me around a corner.

"Brother, I forgot something, please go on without me, I know the way there." I say in a louder than normal voice, the blonde looks confused but nods when I put a finger to my lips and smile.

I take a shortcut through one of the rooms and take a corridor which loops back around to the one I was in. By the time I got there the pot had only just made it's way past where Xander and I split up at. This body was really fast actually, then again maybe it's just because I'm always thinking so much that I just seem to be. ...Anyways, I yell at the pot to stop which, of course, only makes it try to run away.

"Come back here!" I yell and chase the running pot. Wow, that is a weird sentence. '?' I think I saw something as I was running but paid it little mind and kept chasing the pot. Eventually I corner it in some random hallway, because they honestly all look alike.

"It's okay." I try to calm it- no- them down.

"I know it's you. The maids weren't surprised when they saw you, so you have to be someone who lives here; also they didn't scold you, meaning that you're one of the royal siblings; and when I announced I was leaving you kept going, meaning you were following Xander not me. There's only one person who would do that and fits the criteria. It's you, Leo."

"I'm surprised you put that much thought into it." Sure enough, Leo squeezed himself out of the pot, or he would have, if he hadn't gotten stuck.

I couldn't help but laugh at the little blonde's situation, he's stuck from the elbow down, his legs sticking out from holes in the bottom that is usually used for draining water. Leo glared at me but continued trying to get out. "Do you need any help?"

"No I can-" suddenly the pot and Leo- the Leo-pot- fell over, somehow failing to break. I continue to laugh as Leo gets even more upset.

It takes several minutes until he finally accepts my help. I put my arms under his armpits and tug him out. We stare at anywhere but each other, not knowing what to say. Leo was definitely the most distant of my siblings, but all of them were originally. Heck, even Camilla, especially Camilla, but that's a story for another time. Anyways, if I could get her to turn around maybe I can befriend Leo? I mean it's certainly possible given the cannon but I think I've deviated from it already at least minorly, or have I? Ah well, I should probably do something regardless.

I gather up my courage and speak. "So."

"So?" Leo looks up, curiously.

"You wanna go get some lunch?"

* * *

Leo, Xander, and I ate lunch together at the dining table which was way too big for just us so we got a smaller table, took three chairs, put them together, and draped a blanket over the cushions. Tada! Instant couch and a table, but that was already made. Anyways, things got kind of hectic since the maid who delivered our food got flustered from being around Xander and tripped, spilling all the food on the ground. Apparently Xander has a rather large fan-base, I do believe that can be categorized under future blackmail material.

Anyways, Xander had to go because paperwork so Leo and I agreed to talk later and went to our rooms. 'I should probably plan some things out.' I pull out a piece of parchment which I had in a drawer along with some pencils. I make a list of objectives and underneath put a progress bar, it's a trick I used to use near the end of the school-year when work piled up.

=Get new better name (the progress bar was blank)

Find out what others think of you

-Xander (this bar was somewhere around the 30-40% range filled)

-Camilla (this one was in the high 40s)

-Leo (this one hovered around the 20% range and had a question mark next to it)

-Elise (this one was in the

Establish relationships

-Political:

-Personal:

Go through fight training

Possibly arrange for tutors

Learn about economy and geography=

The last four objectives had a large space under them instead of a progress bar. These were things I needed to gain more information on before making definite progress on them. After a moment I also added:

=Investigate blurb= The weird thing I saw when I was chasing after Leo-pot seems important though I don't have a clue as to why. Then after an even longer moment I added another objective in a print so small it could barely be read.

=Locate Original Corrin (OC)'s location (this progress bar was obviously blank)=


	5. Random Confusion

A.N.: Thank you Random Nerd Otaku and Frost Thorn for following and Wiz Crew and Random Nerd Otaku for favoriting along with SolidShinji104 for reviewing!

* * *

"Big Brother!" Shortly after hiding my list and leaving my room I got tackled to the ground. The culprit is obvious, I don't think there's anyone else that would do such a thing.

"Elise."

"I heard that you and Leo and Xander had lunch without me! Why didn't you ask me to come, it's not like there's much to do here!" Well she has a point.

"You're right Eli, and I'm sorry, how about I try and make it up to you?" The blonde girl looked up at me and I smiled. "How about we go raid the kitchen as a special secret sibling mission?"

"Yeah!" I laughed at the quick response, I've always been good with those younger than me, my old family's old family friends ran a daycare and I often helped out.

With that we set off for the kitchen. Elise peeked inside and told me that there was a cooling rack filled with sweets, likely for dessert tonight. "Let's get those." She wispered.

"But if we take them now we won't have any for dessert."

"I think they have enough time to make some more." We flashed identical mischievous grins at each other and put together a plan.

It took a while for all the cooks to all be facing and or being away from the rack but when they did I snuck inside. I made a hand signal and Elise nodded and walked inside the kitchen normally. She said something about lunch, I didn't really pay attention to it. Instead, I took the pan of sweets and booked it out the door while the cooks were still distracted. I carefully set the pan down outside of the door and walked back in.

"Hey, Elise, what's taking so long?"

"Nothing, I'm coming." With that we just walked out. Not exactly KID level but it was a pretty good heist.

We sat in Elise's room, ate our spoils, and talked the rest of the afternoon away. At some point we got tired and fell asleep. When I woke up it was morning.

'What? Did I sleep through dinner? Ah, I should probably go get something to eat.' I slide out of my bed, did one of the servants bring me here? Anyways, I walked to the kitchen. This body really is different, huh. I ate a bunch of sweets and slept through dinner but I feel perfectly fine, before I would've been too tired to even move. 'Ah well, isn't like that's a bad thing.'

I went on with my day, reading with Leo, getting yelled at for making paper airplanes out of the pages of priceless books, playing with Elise, trying to help Xander and making things ultimately worse, just everyday things. Actually, that pretty much sums up how I spent the week, nothing really important happened- I found a door that glowed but it wasn't all that interesting- then Xander had to leave. Apparently Xander had recruited a fighter from a tournament that a while ago and that guy's training to be his retainer had just finished or something to that extent. I have the feeling that that's supposed to be important somehow but something is- I guess I just forgot why.

* * *

Recently, to be honest, something has seemed off, like I'm slowly forgetting something important. Why was that? Years, how many years from now? Five, seven? that's so long in the future, why is it important again- it's not. List, my room, what I have to do- which is nothing right?- I stumble to my room, the door handle is covered in a purple-black mist. I've seen that before, on that door, the one I had noticed earlier, I had thought it was weird- but it wasn't- I had seen it before somewhere, on a screen? Someone had shown it to me, who was that again? I don't remember- I had written it down somewhere- right the list, in my room. I grab the door handle and freeze.

"Why- what was I doing here again?" Weird, I've forgotten. Who's I, who am I again?

"Hey, Corrin are you alright?" I whip my head towards the voice, Silas, right, my friend.

Corrin, me, he's talking to me, I am Corrin, was I anyone else? Anyways, he's waiting for me, I'm supposed to show him around the castle today- _respond stupid_.

"Um yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

As we head down the hall I find my thoughts wandering. 'Corrin is a weird name.' But it's my name right? I've never met anyone else named Corrin, so does that make me the first Corrin. Heh, Corrin the first, the Original Corrin, the OC. This causes me to laugh, what am I even thinking about? Silas looks at me but shrugs, he's used to me being weird, that's why we're friends.

"Hey Silas."

"Hm?"

"We're friends, right?"

"Yeah, of course. We've known each other for four years now and you think we're not?"

"I don't know, I thought Leo and I were friends but now that he's moved he doesn't come and talk. He hasn't visited once." Right, that jerk, and he stopped writing me too.

"Corrin he's barely been gone for a season."

"That doesn't matter."

"I think you're being a bit overprotective, Leo has two retainers at his side. Both of which I have heard are strong and loyal."

"And yet I have met neither of them, what if they are endangering my precious baby boy?"

"I thought he was your brother?"

"Regardless!" Silas laughs jollily. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because you're so weird."

I pout but laugh all the same. Right, Silas and Corrin, the loyal puppy and the weird prince, that's all we need to be. So why doesn't that nagging sensation in the back of my mind cease?

* * *

A.N.: Something's happened to our MC! Well, next chapter will feature another large timeskip. See you next time and stay beautiful all you beautiful people!


	6. Returning to the Castle

A.N.: Okay, this is where the canon divergence begins. Thanks to Baerwald, JohnhtimS, Warlord of Chaos, and northboss for following, northboss again for favoriting, and Random Nerd Otaku for reviewing. You're support means a lot, thank you. Now then on with the story, hope you enjoy.

* * *

"At your call." I ready my weapon.

"Ready... fight!" I swing widely at my opponent... and get thrown to the ground.

"Dangit." I push myself off the ground and get ready to try again. "Nice move, but I'm not done yet!"

My opponent smirks and prepares himself for my next attack. I don't give him the time to, dashing forward and pretending to attack. My opponent guards but I quickly change directions and try to attack him from the other side. This attack is parried and I click my tongue and jump away, giving us some breathing room.

'Okay, I think I've got it.' Information arranges itself in my mind. My opponent attacks and I guard with ease. 'Guess I should stop messing around.' I rush my opponent, keeping low to the ground as I dash forward. Just as I came in front of him I jump, flip upside down to dodge an attack, and kick the male in the face. This distracts him long enough for me to land and I sweep my opponent's legs from under him. By the time the male recovers he is already falling to the ground. I place the tip of my blade to my opponent's throat and he smiles.

"I give." It's only then do I notice the roaring cheers around me.

I offer my opponent a hand, which he accepts. "You did a good job. Your reaction time seems to be your main problem. Try practicing with others along with your regular routine." The male smiles and nods before joining the crowd.

I twirl my current choice of weapon, a spear, around in my hand and rest it on my shoulder. I'm not very good with spears but it was the first thing I saw in the weapons room so I'm using it. "Do we have any more challengers?" I ask the crowd, no one steps forward. Man, and I just got fired up too. Just as I was about to tell everyone to go back to their stations someone calls out to me.

"Sir, you have a letter." One of the soldiers inform me, holding up said letter.

"Who from?"

"Castle Krakenburg, sir." The letter was turned around so I could see the royal seal on the envelope.

I take the letter and scan over it on my way to my tent. It's from father, a while ago I helped in setting up negotiations with the kingdom of Hoshido. However, those went poorly and apparently now there's a looming threat of war between Hoshido and Nohr- well more so than before. Due to this I should report to Krakenburg as soon as possible. My eyes linger on the last sentence. 'I believe it is time for you to join the battlefront as a proud prince of Nohr.' It makes me smile, I thought that since I was confined to the Northern Fortress, training soldiers and cheering on my siblings from afar were all I could do to help. But to join the battlefront means that not only could I help, I could also get the hell out of this place!

"Jakob." I call for my trusty butler.

"Yes, Master Corrin?" I refrain from screaming as I turn my head to see the man in question at my side.

"Please get Felicia, Flora, and Lilith, tell them to pack their things we have to go to Castle Krakenburg." I hand him the letter.

He reads it and nods seriously. "Will I be accompanying you as well?"

"No, you will stay here and watch over the troops, if war does break out they need to be prepared." Jakob looks upset but I give him my best smile. "Please, you're the only one who I can trust to do this."

This causes him to perk up rather quickly. "Yes sir, leave it to me!"

I watch Jakob leave, amused. Felicia and Flora come a few minutes later. I explained what was happening to them, Felicia decided to come along while Flora thought that it would be best if she stayed. Lilith arrived halfway through and I asked her to get the best fliers she had to take us to the castle.

"You sure you don't want to come with, Lilith?"

"Yes sir, I'm sure." And that was that.

I finish packing and have Jakob gather everyone. "Alright, I along with others, who have already been told, will be leaving for Castle Krakenburg. To be honest, we may not be back for a while." I see a lot of the troops give silent cheers. "And before you think about slacking off, Jakob will be staying behind and trust me he will be just as bad if not worse than me." I try not to laugh at the immediate turn around in the troop's expression. "That will be all, dismissed."

* * *

The ride to Castle Krakenburg is quiet but amazing, though nothing but bleak fields stretch on for miles past the fort but as we near the central city, lights glow from the underground capital. I walk through the many halls of the castle which I had at some point in my childhood memorized. I walk up to the door to the throne room and hear voices from inside, trying not to eavesdrop I knock on the door and the room falls silent. Someone on the other side gets up and I take a moment to just take it all in. This is tremendous, if I do this right maybe I'll be allowed to leave the fortress regularly but on the other hand, if I screw this up...

A hand on my shoulder shakes me out of my thoughts, it's Felicia. "Sir, please don't worry. The fact that his majesty even allowed us to come means good things right?"

I offer my best smile, "yeah, y-you're right." I find it hard to believe myself. The door starts to creak open and I steel myself.

I try not to show my surprise as I see a familiar blonde open the doors fully. "Xander!"

"Corrin! I'm glad to see you've arrived safely, father is talking to the court right now, come, we can talk to him later." I smile and nod, I personally don't trust the court as far as I can throw them, collectively, but father seems to like them well enough. To be honest I much prefer the court the way it was when I was a kid.

I let be led down the halls of the castle, looking at all that's changed. It's been what? Three, four years? So not that long, but long enough for the castle halls to become unfamiliar.

Brother seems to have noticed my wandering thoughts and speaks. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I'm glad seeing you again."

"I'm sorry I wasn't able to visit you recently." The blond clenches his hands, something's worrying him.

"It's fine, you had your own things to deal with as did I."

Xander nods and leads me down a few more hallways before we came to a large pair of doors, not as large as some of the others but still large enough for the top to easily loom high above my head. I know these doors, it's to the main hall. I remember sitting on the grand staircase on the days Xander and Camilla came to the castle, waiting to be the first of their siblings they would see. Brother nods to the door and I place my hands on the handle. It's a weird feeling, being the one coming home for once, but I decide that it's a nice feeling. I open the doors and am temporarily blinded by the brightness of the main hall. When I can see again I look around, some of the paintings had changed, the chandelier was certainly brighter, and going down the stairs is three familiar people.

"Corrin!"

"So you finally arrived."

"How have you been, darling?"

"I'm home." I can't keep a smile off my face as I run up to them.

* * *

A.N.: And done! Okay, to explain why our Corrin's backstory is a little different is mainly because I'm trying to make both sides be a bit more grey and in order to show that this Corrin is already in a position in which he is has a good reputation, at least with the Nohrians. It will mainly just be mentioned but will come about later. I do believe that will be all so stay beautiful you beautiful people!


	7. Reunion

A.n.: We're back! I know I said this would be out earlier but my laptop decided to die for a few days. Anyways, thanks to nuel95, NeoRenek, and Nonexistent Existence for following and the latter two again for favoriting as well. Now, on with the chapter!

* * *

"Big Brother Corrin!"

"Eli!" I meet the hyper blonde girl halfway up the stairs and we hug.

Eli starts telling me about how she's been in a rather rapid fire manner and I nod along, only really being able to catch bits and pieces of it.

"Well it's nice to see that Elise gets a warm greeting, at least." A familiar blonde, my younger brother Leo, says, walking up to us.

"My son!" I immediately embrace the young man who splutters and starts protesting, trying to squirm out of my grip.

"Well, it's nice to see the gang's all here." A voluptuous purple haired woman, my older sister Camilla, greets us all, taking her time down the steps.

"Ah, big sis!" I smile at her in greeting, releasing Leo.

Camilla hugs me tightly, unintentionally choking me with her breasts. "Oh, my dear Corrin."

"Please, stop, can't breathe!" I hear Leo mutter karma.

"Oh, I'm sorry, darling, I haven't seen you in so long."

"Yeah, sorry that I haven't been able to visit." I rub the back of my head.

Xander sits on the bottom step of the stairwell and we follow. We chat, talking about what's happened since we last saw one another.

"Really, that seriously happened?"

"Yeah but at least it wasn't as bad as Operation Dancer."

"Elise, no!"

"Wait, wait what's Operation Dancer?"

"I think Leo should explain."

"I'd really rather not."

The conversation mainly consisted of poking fun at the others, namely Leo, and telling stories about one another. Of course, there were some pretty comedic ones.

"So Brother, in a moment of true heroism, stops and turns to the hoard-"

"The hoard?"

"I'd say it's a pretty accurate description but, anyways, Xander just holds his arms out in surrender and promptly gets _jumped_ by all these women."

"He was a true hero and shall always be remembered for his noble sacrifice."

"But I'm right here."

"That entire situation was surely the most terrifying experience I have ever had."

I try to catch a breath between my laughter.

"Ah, that actually reminds me of something that happened back at the fortress. So basically-"

My story gets stopped short by a nervous knock at the door. We looked at each other and nodded, smothering our goofy smiles and looking as serious and imposing as possible, have to look professional and all.

"You may enter." Xander speaks loudly and clearly.

A young, scared servant enters and is eyes widen as he takes in the likely impressive sight my siblings and I make together, looking down at the servant from our position at the middle of the stairs. The servant freezes and I sigh in the most elegant way I can. "Is there a reason for you disturbing us?" Xander nods slightly and I try not to smile at the silent praise.

"K-K-King Garron requests your audience in the thrown room, your highnesses." Xander lets out a hum of understanding and dismisses the servant with a wave of his hand.

Once the servant is surely out of the room I speak. "...So, new staff or?" The others shrug.

"Hopefully we didn't scare him too much." Elise says with a small laugh.

"Regardless we should get going." Xander states, rolling his shoulders.

"I know a shortcut." Leo offers.

"Lead the way." Camilla says and we all follow Leo.

As we walk I talk to Leo. "Why is Father summoning us?"

"Well more so you than us." Leo informs me.

"Me?"

"You'll likely be getting your first real assignment." Leo looks back at me and snorts at my wide smile.

'An assignment! A mission! I'll probably have someone with me and it will probably be basic but whatever, this is so great!'

We all filed into the throne room, I look up at Father in his throne, he looks more tired than ever. 'All this stress must be getting to him.' Seeing Father like this only fuels my resolve to do my best to help.

"So you have arrived, Corrin." Father greets me and I nod in reply.

"It's like a dream, being back in Castle Krakenburg again."

"This is due to your own efforts, words of praise have come both from the soldiers under your care and from all the people you have aided in joining our kingdom. Now, I wish for you to impress me once again, now on the battlefront." I flush at the praise, it's always nice to be acknowledged.

"Father, will Corrin be alright?" Elise asks with a rare frown.

"I worry for this too. Corrin is unlike us, he has a gentle soul, and I fear for his safety outside of the fortress." Camilla adds, I'm not sure whether to feel touched or annoyed at their concern.

"I'll be fine." I interject. "I've gotten this far and I don't want to stop now. Plus, it's not like the fortress was completely protected from attack." I add the last part in a quieter voice, remembering when I had to hide against my will when the fortress was attacked.

"Now then, our negotiations with the neighboring nation of Hoshido have failed." I frown, I can't imagine why not. I was the one who helped set up the negotiations in the first place, I made sure that the Hoshidans understood why we needed their land. Perhaps I should go personally next time. "As you know, we are currently at war with the eastern nation of Hoshido." Hoshido, one of the largest nations in the world, only rivaled by Nohr. They are a commonly neutral country, refusing to get involved with any foreign affairs. 'I wonder why they would choose to fight now? It's not like Nohr hasn't purchased Hoshidan territories before, what changed?'

A glowing sword materializes before my eyes, snapping me out of my thoughts. "This is Ganglari, a sword infused with magic from another world. With this sword at our side, you will crush the Hoshidan army with ease."

"Thank you, Father." I take the sword in my hand, feeling a wave of magic power wash over me. 'Though I will be using it as sparsely as possible' I, of course, didn't voice these thoughts.

"Now let's see you put this sword to proper use, bring out the prisoners!" The world froze.

"Prisoners?" 'Proper use?'

Two people were dragged into the throne room, struggling. "These are prisoners from our most recent skirmish with Hoshido. I want to see your power with my own eyes. Use that sword to strike them down."

At that moment, I became acutely aware of how the throne room was set up. The entire room was made of stone-easier to clean blood off of, the many arches decorated the walls- the majority of them didn't lead anywhere, harder to escape; the walls were extremely high- a wyvern could fly with ease in here. The air becomes colder as I notice more and more similarities between the throne room, and an arena.

* * *

A.N.: And that's a wrap! The next chapter should come out some time around Thanksgivings Break. Until next time!


	8. The Fight in the Throne Room

A.N.: We are back! Wow, this chapter took way longer than it should have, so sorry for the delay. Thanks to Oemakitsune for following and favoriting and I apologize to them for not giving them a shout out earlier. Also, in response to Guest's review, true, true. On a related note to that, has anyone here ever tried taking on a battle with only magic users? Please tell me in the comments if so!

With that, let's begin!

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I take a deep breath, trying futilely to get rid of the tightness in my chest. 'Calm down, Corrin, you can do this, it's just like sparring with the recruits. Except you have to actually hurt them and their actually trying to hurt you. And your entire family's watching, and your freedom is on the line.'

 **You're in a war, get used to staking it all on your blade.** A voice hisses in the back of my mind. I nod to myself and walk to the center of the arena.

"Let me join you, milord." I turn to see my old tutor, **nanny** , Gunter. I haven't seen him in a while, **surprised the old man didn't stick him with us when we left, wonder what that'll change?** "Felicia, will you join as well? " I only then notice the young woman on my left. Felicia agrees and we take our stances.

From across the room one of the four - wait, when did the other two arrive? **They're unimportant NPCs, they do that sometimes** \- prisoners steps forward to speak. "I am Rinkah! Daughter of the Flame Tribe's honorable chieftain." **Flame Tribe's allied with Hoshido, there is literally nothing else of note about the place**. "What is your name Nohrian?"

"It's Corrin." **Or something like that.**

The green haired Hoshidan gasps. "Corrin... Could it be?" **Wow, are we famous?**

"Have you heard of me?" The man looks away and says nothing. **Well that's suspect as hell.** Instead, the man introduces himself as Kaze and prompts me to fight.

"Kill them all." Father instructs. **You heard the man.** I grasp the handle of Ganglari tightly.

Something brushes the edge of my senses, I stare at a point on the ground just before the pile of rubble. 'That feeling, could it be?' I take a steadying breath and focus on my enemies. So, what's the plan? **Oh, are you** _finally_ **acknowledging my existence? Tch, fine, head to the dragon vein first, as for the enemies, the ninja is the most dangerous one, he coated his shuriken in something that makes his opponents weaker; luckily for us, so did Felicia with her daggers. Have Gunter take the ninja and have someone else take the kill,** **the same with the chic with the eight-pack and Felicia, you should be able to take out the other two easy. Got it? Great, now don't fuck it up.**

I follow the instructions and win the battle with ease, though not without injury. I relax once I'm sure Hoshidans can't move but jump at Father's yell. "What are you doing, idiot boy? Finish them!" The Hoshidans tense, preparing for their end.

"B-But Father, they are beaten, they cannot even move. Why execute helpless prisoners?" I try and reason with him.

"You _dare_ question my authority! I told you to kill them!"

I shake my head. "No, I refuse!"

"I will not argue any further." Father waves his hand, a magic circle lighting under him. I brace myself as I see a fireball heading my way, only for it to pass me and incinerate two of the prisoners. Father raises his hand again but this time I intercept the attack.

My family gasps in surprise while Father screams. "You defy me, Corrin?!"

Xander is quick to step in, trying to protect me. **He's a good brother, shame.** Father then orders _Xander_ to kill the prisoners, along with myself if I oppose him. Xander nods reluctantly and draws his sword, approaching me and the prisoners. "Please, step aside." Xander implores but I stand my ground. The blonde strikes me, **weakly** , and I return it. "Why do you refuse, Corrin? The Hoshidans are our sworn enemies!"

"I know but this is different. These people cannot fight, so can we not show them mercy?" My sisters also try to get me to stop but I persist. Leo eventually sighs and raises his tome. "Leo, wai-" **Don't!** A rush of wind blows against my back as thorns of light obscure the Hoshidans.

"Father, I have dispatched of the enemies on the behalf of my softhearted brother." Father nods and walks off.

"Leo..." **They're not dead, with magic especially, unless you see a body they're not dead. So I swear if you start crying.** I rub my eyes. "Thank you, Leo." The short blonde shrugs his shoulders, uncaringly.

Xander sighs. "Corrin, mark my words, one of these days your kindness will be the death of you."

"Then I will have lived a life without regrets." **Or at least with as few as possible.** Xander shakes his head at my broad smile.

"...Well said." He instructs some servants to take the prisoners' belongings and "bodies" to his room.

"Thanks again, lil'Leo." Leo waves off the thanks, giving some excuse or another. I begin to head to the door before stopping. "Oh, and Leo?"

"Yes?"

Should I do it? **Do it.** "Your collar has been inside-out this entire time." The teen pales and frantically checks his collar, finding that I'm telling the truth. I laugh and run out the room, a flushed Leo calling after me.

* * *

We let the prisoners go with a warning, the ninja nods and runs off but the woman stays. She growls and threatens me but I laugh it off. Her parting words confused me slightly. "I've heard of a diplomatic Nohrian Prince who is naïve and knows nothing of the world. I now see that it was true, if we do meet again, the world will have no doubt taught you the truth." Then, she was gone.

I frown and clench my hands. 'And I hope by the time we meet again, I will have showed this war-hungry world the errors of its ways.'

* * *

A.N.; And that is a wrap! If you're wondering about the bolded voice, then great, I did my job. I was originally going to have them only appear during battles but I decided to have the be a constantly snarky voice in Corrin's head. Other then that, there's not much else to talk about, so stay beautiful you beautiful people!


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